Tiny Leaps - day 4

Okay, technically, day 4 was Friday and it’s 2:58am on Saturday, but since I haven’t slept, it’s Friday in my world still.

In addition to sharing what I did today (Friday lol), I’m also sharing an insight.

Wednesday and Thursday were pretty lackluster days in general, even today. (I even missed PT because I fell asleep the minute after I went live and didn’t wake up til I had to pick up my kid from therapy in early evening.) But while I still did work (literally the bare minimum), I mostly rested when I could have pushed myself harder.

I’ve learned that unless I’m already in burnout, I tend to not rest. Which means that when I DO rest, it’s because I’m incapacitated and not able to function at even the tiniest level, and I’m out of commission for days, if not weeks (or months and years like when I burned out so bad I had to take off two years to heal).

Which also means that it didn’t actually matter how much I did to get ahead when I should have rested; I’ve now lost all that momentum and more because I pushed harder than I could handle. And sometimes that’s necessary in true survival situations, which I’ve been in, but those are the exception, not the rule.

And I was living my life like that was the rule.

I’m working with my high-performance coach on identity shifting, and part of who I want to become is someone who honors my body’s need for rest BEFORE I reach the point of burnout because burnout isn’t just unsustainable; it kills momentum, drive, and my mental health.

So this week was a chance to put that new identity in practice by taking off a day when I noticed my energy waning and things getting harder to do. Even though I wasn’t burned out and even though I technically could have pushed through that fatigue to do the tasks.

I allowed myself to rest.

And the funny thing I noticed is that I didn’t even need the full day. I was still able to go live and keep the event schedule; I just didn’t push myself to do client work or direct outreach after, which would’ve pushed me into unsustainable territory.

So instead of needing days or weeks to recover, I only needed about a half-day, and I’m now so energized (at 3am now) that I’m able to make a full task list and not be completely overwhelmed.

So let’s review Friday’s tiny leaps:

• 3-hours of deep work a day on my business: I outlined, scripted, and created the asset for the second day of the storytelling workshop challenge. (I also delivered it live!)

• work on top priority client project each day: I did back-end client work, not front-facing work, so I scheduled out a client’s book launch on the calendar and adjusted all her dates + shared ways she can build her brand OFF social media to not rely on algorithms (and get out of the cesspool that is the Facebook coaching bubble).

• 1 revenue-generating activity per day: I followed up with a potential client and continued the conversation. Oh, and I now qualify for Facebook/IG monetization, so I set that up.

• 1 brand-building activity per day: I posted on social and shared my expertise in a collab thread so people can reach out to me if they’re interested.

So anything I do from this point on will just count for Saturday because my schedule is unhinged as it is, so we’ve gotta draw the line somewhere.

Overall, it’s much too early to make a decision about this challenge, but I’m glad I’m taking this identity shifting thing more seriously and starting to make decisions based on my desired self rather than the me who’s been running the show.